Greg Buckner's Defense and How it's Made an Impact
Learn about the current Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach and how his defense has made an impact for the Cavaliers and Bucks.
Greg Buckner is currently an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks under Doc Rivers. Buckner has previously served as the associate head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers and as an assistant coach for the Memphis Grizzlies and Houston Rockets.
In this article, you’ll learn about Coach Bucker’s coaching career and the impact he’s made during his NBA tenure.
For more weekly content such as this, make sure to subscribe to “Behind the Coaching” for free and receive all the informative content about basketball coaches today.
Before Coaching
Greg Buckner was born on September 16, 1976 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. He started his professional basketball career at Clemson University, where he played for the Tigers. He started in all 122 games of his career as he led the team to three NCAA tournaments. Buckner also led the team in scoring all four years becoming the first Clemson Tiger to do so. He won the ACC Men's Basketball Rookie of the Year in 1995 and was inducted into the Clemson Athletics hall of fame in 2005.
Buckner was selected by the Dallas Mavericks with the 53rd overall pick in the 2nd round of the 1998 NBA draft. In his 10 year playing career, Buckner played for the Philadelphia 76ers, Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Memphis Grizzlies.
Houston Rockets (2011-2017)
Bucker’s first coaching job was with the Houston Rockets as a player development coach under Kevin McHale. J.B. Bickerstaff was an assistant coach under McHale, who Buckner would later work under. Bickerstaff was named the interim after McHale was fired in 2015.
He notably coached Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, Goran Dragić, Marcus Camby, Earl Boykins, Kyle Lowry, Chandler Parsons, and Marcus Morris Sr.
Memphis Grizzlies (2017-2019)
J.B. Bickerstaff was named the interim head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies after the team fired David Fizdale. Coach Bickerstaff would later be named the full time head coach in 2017, Buckner returned to the Grizzlies organization as an assistant coach with the existing coaching staff in December 2017.
He notably coached Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, Dillion Brooks, Mario Chalmers, Tyreke Evans, Kyle Anderson, Jaren Jackson Jr., Avery Bradley, Joakim Noah, Delon Wright, Chandler Parsons, and Jevon Carter.
Cleveland Cavaliers (2020-2024)
Coach Buckner was hired as an assistant coach under J.B. Bickerstaff on November 30, 2020. He filled in for Coach Bickerstaff on April 21, 2021 against the Chicago Bulls, winning 121-105. Buckner was later promoted to associate head coach in 2022.
During Bucker’s tenure with The Cavaliers, the team was ranked 8th best overall in defense in the 2021-2022 season, 1st in the 2022-2023 season, and the 6th best in the 2023-2024 season.
He notably coached Darius Garland, Colin Sexton, Kevin Love, Cedi Osman, Jarrett Allen, Isaac Okoro, Larry Nance Jr., Evan Mobley, Donovan Mitchell, Lauri Markkanen, Rajon Rondo, Ricky Rubio, and Max Strus.
Milwaukee Bucks (2024-)
Coach Buckner was hired as an assistant coach under Doc Rivers as a front of the bench assistant to help improve the team’s defense.
The Bucks would win the NBA cup in December 2024. As of February 10, 2025, the Bucks rank 12th overall best defense in the league.
Buckner has notably coached Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, Bobby Portis Jr, Gary Trent Jr, and Kyle Kuzma so far in his Bucks tenure.
Coaching Story
Greg Buckner is slowly rising the coaching ranks in the NBA, there’s no doubt he’s been a factor in each of his team’s defenses. It’s possible he’ll end up a head coaching candidate in the NBA or a head coach as is, but for now, Buckner is focused on helping the Bucks not only secure a playoff spot, but to make a deep playoff run.